Melissa Albert: "The Bad Ones"

Title: The Bad Ones [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Melissa Albert [Instagram | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery, Contemporary
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Engrossing, twisty mystery. Unexpected resolution. Fleshed-out leads whose relationship is equally well-developed.
Cons: A certain player's involvement becomes clear a bit too early. The supporting characters are little more than tools to advance the plot. The romance feels unnecessary.  
WARNING! Sexual assault/abuse (off-page), self-injury, car accident, parental death (off-page), murder by suffocation, near-drowning. Homophobia, bigotry, bullying.
Will appeal to: Those who like urban legends/supernatural mysteries/witchcraft gone wrong. Those who enjoy fierce, yet messy/toxic friendships.

Blurb: In the course of a single winter’s night, four people vanish without a trace across a small town. Nora’s estranged best friend, Becca, is one of the lost. As Nora tries to untangle the truth of Becca’s disappearance, she discovers a darkness in her town’s past, as well as a string of coded messages Becca left for her to unravel. These clues lead Nora to a piece of local lore: a legendary goddess of forgotten origins who played a role in Nora and Becca’s own childhood games... (Amazon)

Review: I'm late to the Melissa Albert party, but after loving her adult debut, I've made it my mission to read everything she writes. I have some small quibbles about The Bad Ones, but regardless, I found it to be trippy, entertaining and emotional, and I loved its curveball ending.
Just a heads-up before I start...the cover doesn't match the content. There's a weeping angel statue at some point in the story, but don't expect it to mean anything...and if the cover is supposed to represent the goddess (which of course it is), BIG FAIL.

DAZED AND AMAZED

The Bad Ones blends all-consuming (you might very well say toxic) friendship with a supernatural mystery that leaves you enough breadcrumbs to figure out its direction, yet throws you for a loop multiple times before you decipher it, and hits you with a last couple of twists you couldn't have seen coming. Told in three different voices and timelines (Nora's 1st person POV in the present, Becca's 3rd person POV in the past, another character's 3rd person POV recounting even older events), it's an addictive puzzle with minimal gore or violence, but a dark core - though it ultimately ends up in a much healthier place than one might expect. The beginning is atmospheric, intriguing, creepy - unexpected, too. Albert doesn't waste time setting up the mystery, but she doesn't start, as one would anticipate, by introducing her main characters - yet the hook is impossible to resist: three people, apparently unrelated, are accosted by a mysterious female being and vanish into thin air. From there, the wheels in the reader's head keep turning and the theories about what happened to those three (and to Becca herself, later reported missing as well) multiply. I buddy-read this one with my friend Carrie, and we traded a few wild hypotheses along the way, but most of them turned out to be wrong...though at least one of the answers had stared us in the face the whole time 😅. And, considering we're both seasoned supernatural-thriller readers, that's saying something. The final twist had me in awe, especially since it took one of my core assumptions about the plot and flipped it on its head, giving the story a far more original - and tragic - angle (Carrie was a bit less enthused by that turn of events, but I'll let her review speak for itself). [...]

Melissa Caruso: "The Last Soul Among Wolves" (ARC Review)

Title: The Last Soul Among Wolves [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: The Echo Archives (2nd of 3 books)
Author: Melissa Caruso [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Multiverse, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2025
Age: 16+ (the characters are all adults, and the book is indeed marketed to adults, but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fresh take on the multiverse trope with strong world-building. Engaging characters. Lots of intriguing action and a few well-placed twists  The story leaves plenty of room for a new installment, but doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
Cons: The murder mystery isn't near as exciting as the magical quest. The main character comes across as more vulnerable and less resourceful than she did in Book 1.
WARNING! Blood, body horror, torture.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy modern fantasy, vintage detective stories, (deadly) alternate realities, former-enemies romances that don't swallow the plot, and new moms being badass.

Blurb: All Kembral Thorne wants is to finish her maternity leave in peace. But when her best friend asks for help, she can’t say no, even if it means a visit to a run-down mansion on an isolated island for a will reading. She arrives to find an unexpected reunion of her childhood friends - plus her once-rival, now-girlfriend Rika Nonesuch, there on a mysterious job. Then the will is read, and everything goes sideways. Eight potential heirs, half of them Kem’s oldest friends. Three cursed relics. The rules: one by one, the heirs will die. The prize for the lone survivor: A wish. And wishes are always bad business. To save their friends, Kem and Rika must race against the clock and descend into other realities once more. But the mansion is full of old secrets and new schemes, and soon the game becomes far more dangerous - and more personal - than they could have imagined. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

KEEPING MOMENTUM

I read the first installment in The Echo Archives series last year - drawn by its alternate-realities premise - and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed a story that ended up involving a few aspects I'm usually less keen on. For those who are new to this universe, a brief introduction (I'm quoting from my review for Book 1):

[...] the setting is a world similar to our own - albeit steeped in magic and giving off an early-20th-century vibe - except in this world twelve layers of reality exist: the root universe, or Prime, and its eleven Echoes, getting more and more grotesque and dangerous the farther you stray from their paradigm.

Our protagonist Kembral belongs to a guild tasked with retrieving people (or things) that get abducted/swallowed by the Echoes. She and her old nemesis (now girlfriend) Rika have barely recovered after saving their hometown from a cursed Echo relic, when they get dragged into a new mess involving not one, but three artifacts this time, in which the lives of eight people (half of them old friends of Kembral's) are at stake. I'm happy to report that TLSAW doesn't suffer from second-book syndrome - not at all. Weaving multiverse madness with a cozy (so to speak) old-style whodunnit and a still tentative, at times rocky romance, plus drawing on a huge twist from the first installment, Caruso produces an effortlessly entertaining sequel with action, character development and surprises to spare. There are scenes that will have you hold your breath (Kem's power is incredibly fascinating, but comes with very real consequences), and the Echo world and its creatures are vividly depicted. Also, did I say surprises? Because, while some were a tad too easy to see coming in the first installment, the author covered her tracks well this time, and there's a twist in particular - involving one of the new characters - that will elicit horror and compassion at the same time... [...]

B.C. Johnson: "Djinn & Tonic" (ARC Review)

Title: Djinn & Tonic [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: B.C. Johnson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Thriller or Mystery, Supernatural
Year: 2025
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Original, funny, twisty, cinematic.
Cons: A tad chaotic and a bit heavy on the snarkiness. The sex scenes (see below) may not sit well with everyone.
WARNING! Blood and gore, violence (not of the sexual kind), torture, guns, burns, drowning. Contains two graphic sex scenes (F/M and F/F).
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy a mixture of thriller and urban fantasy with plenty of action. Those who can get behind a kickass but dysfunctional heroine.

Blurb: Welcome to Remmy's life: crap work for ungrateful wishers. Her only reward? More wishes, more work. She and her djinn friends have been stuck in 20-something human bodies since Biblical times and - other than a few neat parlor tricks - they can't snap their fingers and make your wish come true. What they do have is a few thousand years of experience making the impossible possible. When Remmy's newest lamp-rubber turns out to be the loathsome owner of a Fortune 500 company with dirty dealings, Remmy finds herself unwillingly descending into a murder mystery that crosses borders, oceans, and every line of human decency. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. I've been a fan of Mr. Johnson since I started his Deadgirl series in 2013, and I've proof/beta-read some of his books. I swear, though, that I'm going to be as honest about this book as I usually strive to be in my reviews. I wouldn't be of any service neither to the author nor to you potential readers if I didn't. Here goes....

DJINN-IUS IDEA

After bringing the wonderful and epic Deadgirl series to completion, B.C. Johnson swings towards adult lit, but doesn't betray his signature penchant for supernatural mayhem and snarkiness. First thing first - Djinn & Tonic is one of the most original stories I've ever read. Think hard-boiled detective novel without the actual detective and with a band of used-up genies instead. They only retain a small fraction of their original power (that they have to conserve as best as they can, because in human form, they don't have access to its source anymore), but are bound to make their summoners' wishes happen, so they have to resort to unconventional methods (well, unconventional for a bunch of genies, that is...though, now that I think of it...unconventional at any rate). There's also a backstory - albeit small - of how they found themselves in this predicament, and it left me wanting more. D&T is a treasure trove of comic moments and funny banter/inner monologue, plus it has an eldritch, unhinged heroine full of very human flaws and with a more tender core than you might expect, all things considered (but shh, don't tell her 😉). "What would you do if you were an ancient being shoved into a human body since before Christian era and your powers were dwindling, but you were forced to act as if you still had them, or pay a steep price" wasn't on my bingo card for sure, but that's B.C. Johnson for you - and as usual, the result is a rich, engaging story you haven't read the like before. [...]

Ryan Leslie: "The Garden of Before" (ARC Review)

Title: The Garden of Before  [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: The Between (2nd of 2 books)
Author: Ryan Leslie [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural (technically it would be Portal Fantasy, but since I don't have a Fantasy Room on the blog, I decided to shelf this one as Supernatural - that's the closer I could get), Multiverse, Sci-Fi, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2025
Age: 18+ (but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Imaginative, engaging and visually stunning. Rich in worldbuilding and character development/dynamics.
Cons: The main characters' unusual inner strength requires a little suspension of disbelief.
WARNING! Horror and gore, fires, death of a sibling, dismemberment/decapitation, run-over, violence, depression, miscarriage (off-page).
Will appeal to: Everyone who loves game-like structures and larger-than-life scenarios/adventures in their books.

Blurb: For Paul Prentice things have gotten much worse. His house was destroyed in the battle with the Koŝmaro. He's on thin ice at his job, where instead of working he loses himself in the Between's computer game, trying in vain to find explanations. His best friend Jay has transformed into a shadowy killer. Corinne and Supriya have vanished. And it appears his wife, Julie, has finally had enough and left him. Alone and near ruin, Paul receives a familiar visitor with a dire message: they are all back in the Between. Hunted, captured, doomed. For Paul, still wearing the serĉilo's artifact on his wrist, escape was never an option. The game must be played until the end. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary eARC from the author, since I had already enjoyed and reviewed Book 1 in the series, The Between, in 2021, and his second novel, Colossus, in 2024. That didn't affect my opinion and rating in any way.

Also, to help you get your bearings, a small recap of Book 1, for those of you who haven't picked it up yet, but might be tempted to after reading my review for the sequel...

While landscaping his backyard, Paul discovers an iron door buried in the soil. His childhood friend Jay pushes them to explore what's beneath. When the door slams shut above them, Paul and Jay are trapped in a between-worlds place of Escher-like rooms and horror story monsters, all with a mysterious connection to a command-line, dungeon explorer computer game from the early '80s called The Between. Paul and Jay, along with new and old acquaintances, find themselves filling mind-warping roles in a story that seems to play out over and over again...

CHARACTERS SHAKEUP

Now this is how you write a sequel/end of series.

If The Between was an exciting, rich and well-written foray into a terrifying multiverse nexus that you can never really escape even if you manage to get out - not if one of the roles it entails gets a hold of you - The Garden of Before ups the stakes, not only because the main characters are trying to save themselves and/or their loved ones (and in some cases, even to dismantle the place), but also because all their strengths and weaknesses, lights and shadows, come into sharp focus, raising questions about loyalty, revenge, love, sacrifice, and ultimately, what it means to be human. On one hand, Leslie introduces new characters (or, in some cases, not really...I'm not going to spoil the surprise 😉), and even manages to bring back old ones with a clever, poignant stratagem; on the other, he expands the roles of a few protagonists and secondary characters from Book 1, and creates fresh, powerful dynamics. Julie, Supriya and Corinne (along with two "new" female characters, if to a smaller extent because of their limited screen time) steal the scene in this one, which is a welcome change after the abundance of "dude talk" in Book 1 (I have to admit that I wish Jay would have been toned down a bit back then); and all the protagonists, despite being damaged in different ways - or precisely because of that - elicit empathy and/or a fierce attachment on the reader's part. [...]

Mira Grant: "Overgrowth" (ARC Review)

Title: Overgrowth [on Amazon | on Amazon UK | on Goodreads] (Note: I got my copy from the UK-based publisher Daphne Press, so I'm using the UK cover and I'm linking to Amazon UK along with Amazon.com)
Series: None
Author: Mira Grant [Site* | Goodreads]
   *[Note: as I'm writing this review, the Mira Grant site hasn't been updated for a few years]
Genres: Sci-Fi
Year: 2025
Age: 18+ (but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Fascinating, thought-provoking, refreshingly diverse (trans rep, Mexican-American rep).
Cons: The main conflict and the ending may feel problematic to some, depending on how one reads them. 
WARNING! Toddler death (on page), transphobia, death/violence/guns, blood and gore/vampirism, imprisonment, bug horror.
Will appeal to: Those who like first-contact narratives with a twist. Those who enjoy stories of outsiders and found families. Those who are fascinated by alt-biology scenarios.

Blurb: Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her. Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child. What happens when you know what's coming, and just refuse to listen? (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Daphne Press for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

PLANTED

In the vein of classics like Little Shop of Horrors, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Day of the Triffids, but with a huge twist (the point of view here is the alien's), Mira Grant's return to full-length fiction is a first-contact-meets-coming-of-age story packed with thought-provoking questions and social/cultural commentary. Set in a very near future (2031) over the span of a month, it chronicles the days preceding a plantlike alien armada's invasion of our planet, and the invasion itself, through the eyes of a hybrid character - alien in nature, human in appearance and by nurture - who both knows (and states) she's an alien and at times doubts she's deeply deluded...but mostly, simply, KNOWS. Then again, she has a lot of questions about herself and her origins, especially because more than thirty years have passed since when she allegedly fell on Earth and claimed the body of three-years-old Anastasia, and her people - who equipped her with a compulsion to announce their invasion plans - are taking their sweet time coming back for her. [...]

Kyrie McCauley: "Bad Graces"

Title: Bad Graces [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Kyrie McCauley [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Atmospheric, adventurous, harsh yet tender, with characters who manage to avoid stereotypes and a fresh take on magic.
Cons: Not all characters are equally developed. You need to suspend disbelief for some of the mundane parts.
WARNING! (TW list provided by the author): body horror (reviewer's note: also involving bugs), drowning, suicide, bodily injury, bodily trauma, blood, child neglect, history of abuse; referenced but not on page: homophobia, statutory rape, eating disorders. This book may be uncomfortable for those with emetophobia. (More): alcohol abuse, arson, burns, suffocation, drowning, attempted suicide, animal death.
Will appeal to: Those who are in for an all-female survival (in more than one sense) narrative, with themes of found family, queer love, overcoming trauma and having each other's back.

Blurb: Using her sister’s grades and clean record, Liv starts to rewrite her story, winning a prestigious internship on a movie set filming in Alaska. Instead of a commercial flight, Liv finds herself on a luxury yacht alongside pop star Paris Grace, actress sisters Effie and Miri Knight, Olympic gymnast Rosalind Torres, and social media influencer Celia Jones. Just as the group starts to bond, a violent storm wrecks their vessel, stranding them on a slip of an island in the North Pacific Ocean. Among the threats of starvation and exposure, they learn there is a predator lurking in the forest, unlike anything they’ve seen before - until they begin to see it in themselves. Every injury they suffer on the island causes inexplicable changes in their bodies, transforming them bit by inhuman bit. With little hope for rescue and only each other as their final tether to humanity, can the girls endure the ominous forces at work on the island? Or will they lose themselves to their darker natures? (Amazon excerpt)

Review: In the vein of Wilder Girls (that I haven't read, but has a similar premise - though, based on the reviews I've read, a different backdrop and outcome), McCauley penned a Shakespeare-imbued, Tempest-inspired story - or more like, a nod to the play - that grows on you at every turn.

GIRLS UNITED

Upon starting this novel, I was just a tiny bit worried that I wouldn't click with the main cast (except for the protagonist), because the girls had the potential to present as vapid, entitled or catty at first, what with them being all high-profile (again, except for aspiring writer Liv). I decided to take the risk on account of the premise sounding so exciting, and I'm happy to report McCauley went for a different, refreshing angle right from the start. Turns out, none of the high-profile girls is vapid, entitled or catty, even if they're flawed somehow (then again, so is ordinary Liv). Female solidarity in the face of a male predator extends its tiny tendrils ever since they meet, and ultimately forges a strong web, not only because the girls end up stranded on an off-the-map island and have to look out for each other (speaking of which, Paris, Celia, Rosalind, Effie and Miri not only are rich and famous, but all go back a long way...and yet, they bond with Liv - one of them a bit more effectively than the others 😉). Last but not least. they all seem to value their craft over the popularity and money it entails (which is maybe a tad unbelievable, coming from a bunch of teens, but as I said, so refreshing that I was happy to buy into it). [...]

Dan Hanks: "The Way Up Is Death" (ARC Review)

Title: The Way Up Is Death [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Dan Hanks [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Multiverse, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2025
Age: 18+
Stars: 4.5/5
Pros: Inventive and cinematic; hard-hitting yet moving and ultimately hopeful.
Cons: Given the large cast of characters (and the very nature of the story), not all of them get to be sufficiently developed.
WARNING! Blood and gore, dismemberment, torture, near-drowning, human combustion/explosion, body horror, eye horror, rat horror, death of a loved one.
Will appeal to: Those who are in for a wild, brutal yet poetical adventure/mystery that doubles as a reflection on humanity, life and the future.

Blurb: When a mysterious tower appears in the skies over England, thirteen strangers are pulled from their lives to stand before it as a countdown begins. Above the doorway is one word: ASCEND. As a grieving teacher, a reclusive artist, and a narcissistic celebrity children’s author lead the others in trying to understand why they’ve been chosen and what the tower is, it soon becomes clear the only way out of this for everyone…is up. And so begins a race to the top, through sinking ships, haunted houses and other waking nightmares, as the group fights to hold onto its humanity, while the twisted horror of why they’re here grows ever more apparent – and death stalks their every move. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Angry Robot for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

MORE TO IT

This book's premise is impossible to resist if you're the kind of reader whose mantra is "the weirder the better", but I'm here to confirm that, if you take a chance on TWUID, you won't regret being lured in, and you'll end up getting more than you bargained for. The short-and-sweet version of such premise: thirteen everymen and women from the UK (or just passing through) are pulled from their lives and forced to ascend an impossible tower in the skies, all while trying to fathom the how and (especially) the why in the process. From videogame settings to spaceships, from haunted houses to tropical beaches, a series of equally impossible locations (but ones that are somehow tailored to the travellers' past experiences) have the characters play a deadly game of escape rooms, of which they have to figure out the rules as they go. Exciting, isn't it? But if you tend to need a little more meat on your stories' bones, or if the cosmic horror premise and the content warning list left you on the fence about giving TWUID a chance, there are a couple more things you need to know. One: for a book that sheds so much blood and put its characters through the wringer, Hank's latest is surprisingly comforting and life-affirming. Two: for a book that relies so much on nightmarish experiences and frantic escapes, and even comes close to jumping the shark a couple of times (one of which quite literally 😂), TWUID is (also) surprisingly deep, so that you end up forgiving it for not making you care more for its characters (more of that below) or not giving you all the answers (if you're the type of reader who needs them, because to be honest, they're NOT the point here). [...]

Lora Senf: "The Losting Fountain" (ARC Review)

Title: The Losting Fountain [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None (so far...but a continuation of the story is implied)
Author: Lora Senf [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Creative premise. Rich, fascinating worldbuilding. Deceptively simple - but as a matter of fact expertly crafted - prose.
Cons: Lacks that extra ingredient that makes you bond with the characters on a visceral level. One twist is easy to anticipate. While the story doesn't end on a cliffhanger, there are a number of loose threads left for a sequel to pick up (if you prefer your books to be self-contained).
WARNING! Blood and gore, death/animal death, suicide (off-page), child abuse (off-page), injuries/mutilations, burns, near-drowning, body horror, bugs.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy a creative portal-fantasy-adjacent world with quirky characters.

Blurb: Ember, Miles, and Sam have been called home - only home is a place none of them have ever been before. The choices they make will not only determine their own futures but will also have vast and permanent consequences - they will either restore a cosmic balance or destroy the dams that separate two worlds, ending them both. Hidden below the surface, the world of the Fountain is vast: unexplored and unmapped and full of wild things. There are other entities as well, entities that haunt and hunt in the Fountain, because it rewards nearly as often as it punishes, and it has been punishing the greedy and merciless and cruel for a very long time. The borders between our world and the world of the Fountain are already porous. If the balance between them is upset and control of the Fountain is lost, the consequences will be rapid, merciless, and world-ending. For Ember, Miles, and Sam, all from different times, what starts as a journey to take control of their lives quickly becomes a quest to save - or destroy - both worlds, depending on whom you ask. (Amazon excerpt)

Review:  First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Union Square & Co. for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

ITS OWN MAGIC

I'm always on the hunt for books that bring something new to the table, so I decided to give The Losting Fountain a chance - based both on the synopsis and on Seanan McGuire's endorsement by way of a blurb. I'm pleased to say that this novel is, indeed, a fresh spin on the portal fantasy genre (though in an oblique way, since the island where the Fountain resides can't be accessed from your average portal) and the teen heroes/chosen ones trope. If the Fountain is slightly reminiscent of the Shop Where Lost Things Go from Seanan McGuire's Wayward Children series, Senf does something entirely different with the premise by having the Fountain act as a moral compass: from time to time, it calls to people who have lost something and gives them the chance to retrieve it, but if they get greedy and try to take other things that didn't use to belong to them, the Fountain punishes them and...recycles them for other purposes. At the same time, it serves as a defense, preventing nightmarish creatures from another dimension from creeping into our world (and into any when, which adds an exciting layer to the plot). There's a complex (though not overwhelming) magic system at play with regards to the Fountain and the island, and while I was a little frustrated by some half-explanations, I suppose they have a rhyme and reason in a story that purposefully leaves some threads hanging in view of a possible sequel. [...]

Ryan La Sala: "Beholder"

Title: Beholder [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Ryan La Sala [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2023
Age: 14+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Imaginative, ambitious, pull-no-punches. The writing flows effortlessly and draws you in.
Cons: Relies on two distinct supernatural threads that never really come together. The rom-com moments don't always fit the rest of the narrative.
WARNING! Death/parent death, murder/massacre, fire/fire injury, body horror/eye horror, impalement, strangulation, self harm/intrusive thoughts/suicidal ideation. And of course, giant spider-like creatures...
Will appeal to: Those who like creative eldritch horror with a healthy dose of gore. Those who don't mind a (queer) romance subplot in it.

Blurb: Athanasios “Athan” Bakirtzis has a secret: a hereditary power that allows him to rewind the reflection in any mirror, peering into its recent past. Superstitious Yiayia calls the family ability a curse, and has long warned him never to use it. After being invited to a penthouse soiree for New York’s art elite, Athan breaks his grandmother’s rule during a trip to the bathroom, turning back his reflection for just a moment. Then he hears a slam against the bathroom door, followed by a scream. Athan peers outside, only to be pushed back in by a boy his age. The boy gravely tells him not to open the door, then closes Athan in. Before Athan can process what’s happening, more screams follow, and the party descends into chaos. When he finally emerges, he discovers a massacre - and Athan's mysterious savior is nowhere to be found. Something evil is compelling people to destructive acts, a presence that’s been hiding behind Athan’s reflection his whole life, watching and biding its time. Soon, he’s swept up in a supernatural conspiracy that spans New York, of occult high societies and deadly eldritch designs. If beauty really is in the eye of the beholder, what can it do to us once it’s inside? (Goodreads excerpt)

Review: As of today, I've read all La Sala's books except Be Dazzled, because contemporary romance is not my thing. I really enjoyed his debut novel Reverie, and I flat-out loved The Honeys, so I was very excited to immerse myself in the world of Beholder, and I didn't expect anything short of brilliance from it. Which, on a level, I got...but I didn't love this book as much as the author's previous offerings. With that out of the way, let's get to the review proper...

QUITE A SIGHT

There's no denying it: Ryan La Sala knows how to write - and has quite the imagination, not to mention, a real flair for horror. He endows the protagonist of Beholder with a unique power (rewinding reflections in mirrors) that, while making for an exciting premise and a series of chilling scenes, at the same time ties in with themes of appearance vs. true self and perception vs. perspective. He amps up the nightmare by adding a second supernatural threat that you won't see coming - and a brilliant one at that - plus he draws on the Greek Evil Eye myth, though it's largely reimagined for the occasion. The story moves at a good pace, despite the romantic/comedic interludes - it even manages to incorporate a coming-of-age arc to no detriment of the horror, mystery, magic, conspiracy and action mix that makes up the bulk of the narrative. Oh, and of course, as always with La Sala, it's unapologetically queer, with a protagonist that identifies as pansexual and a gay (I suppose) love interest. Last but not least, the author employs an intriguing writing device: he alternates Athan's 1st-person-POV chapters with a series of mysterious 2nd-person-POV ones (though to be honest, they don't stay mysterious for long...it's easy to fathom whose perspective they're from, once a certain "incident" occurs). [...]

Melissa Caruso: "The Last Hour Between Worlds" (ARC Review)

Title: The Last Hour Between Worlds [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: The Echo Archives (1st of 3 books)
Author: Melissa Caruso [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Multiverse, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2024
Age: 16+ (the characters are all adults, and the book is indeed marketed to adults, but it can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Fresh take on the multiverse trope with strong world-building. Engaging characters. Honest motherhood-vs.-job perspective that still encourages women not to be reduced to the mother role.  The story leaves plenty of room for a new installment, but doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
Cons:  Things only start to get exciting when the characters plunge deeper into the layers of reality. A couple of twists are easy to figure out in advance.
WARNING! Blood, body horror, stabbing, fire, bugs.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy modern fantasy, (deadly) alternate realities/time loops, enemies-to-lovers romances that don't swallow the plot, and new moms being badass.

Blurb: Star investigator Kembral Thorne has a few hours away from her newborn, and she just wants to relax and enjoy the year-turning party. But when people start dropping dead, she’s got to get to work. Especially when she finds that mysterious forces are plunging the whole party down through layers of reality and into nightmare. Most people who fall this far never return. Luckily, Kem isn’t most people. But as cosmic powers align and the hour grows late, she’ll have to work with her awfully compelling nemesis, notorious cat burglar Rika Nonesuch, for a chance to save her city - though not her night off. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

STEPPING UP

I have to preface this review by saying I'm a huge fan of alternate realities and time loops, but I tend to like them more when they're encapsulated in a sci-fi or magical-realism context. I do read fantasy from time to time (low/contemporary/urban), but I have to be completely sold on the book's premise...which was the case with Caruso's take on multiverse, so I took a chance on it - and I'm so glad I did. Basically, the setting is a world similar to our own - albeit steeped in magic and giving off an early-20th-century vibe - except in this world twelve layers of reality exist: the root universe, or Prime, and its eleven Echoes, getting more and more grotesque and dangerous the farther you stray from their paradigm. While it took a bit for the story to get going (I understand that the world-building had to be established, and it makes sense that the main character would look for answers at the party before she faced the outdoors and their mind-bending horrors, but the first couple of Echoes were a tad lackluster), it ultimately found its footing and became exciting and addictive, piling up layers (ha!) of horror, mystery, action, romance, plus character development and more world-building. [...]

Mira Gonzalez: "The Darkness Behind the Door" (ARC Review)

Title: The Darkness Behind the Door [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Mira Gonzalez [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural (not exactly...but I don't have a Fantasy Room in my blog, so that's the closest I could get), Contemporary
Year: 2024
Age: 14+ (technically, this is a NA book, but suitable for younger teens as well. See the WARNING! section though)
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Gripping, cinematic and ultimately heartwarming (though with a side of sadness), with easy-to-love characters. Combines two tropes that never get old in a fresh combo.
Cons: At least one of the major reveals isn't hard to see coming. The prose would have benefited from a little more editing.
WARNING! (TW list provided by the author): Blood, gore, death, suicide, religious trauma, homophobia, profane language, implied sexual content, drug use. (More): Bullying, car accident, kidnapping, grief.
Will appeal to: Those who like a blend of mayhem, magic, mystery and memories. Those who don't mind a sizeable amount of queer awakening/coming-of-age, slow-burn romance and familial love spiking up such blend.

Blurb: When a phantom moose nearly runs Theo's car off an icy Alaskan road, Theo succumbs to curiosity, following the moose's trail to a door hidden amongst the trees. Despite the threat of becoming the latest victim in a string of mysterious disappearances, Theo crosses the threshold. To his horror, the door vanishes, stranding him in a monster-infested alternate reality. Looming adult responsibilities are forgotten as Theo must fight just to survive. Inside the surreal dimension behind the door, Theo finds allies who hold the encroaching darkness at bay: a sword-wielding man named Archer with a strange case of amnesia, and a shapeshifting dragon named Zephyr. A sinister phenomenon threatens to consume Theo as he grapples with his sense of identity and growing feelings for Archer; the longer he remains in this realm, the more his own memories slip away. With darkness closing in and his time running out, Theo must unravel the secrets his companions harbor and confront his own inner demons if he hopes to find a way back to the world he knows before all is lost to the shadows. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

OF TWO MINDS

Let's get it out of the way: this book is a VERY difficult one to review without spoilers. What starts as your average portal fantasy novel (though with a college-aged protagonist, which makes it different enough) soon takes an unexpected turn - or more like a series of them - and morphs into a coming-of-age story with one foot firmly planted in reality. The clues to the final reveal are all there, but the author does a great job of covering her tracks (except in one case - at least one of the twists was easy to figure out, though I didn't expect its follow-up) and unfolding the truth a bit at a time. Then again, the imaginative setting(s), immersive adventures and sweet, slow-burn romance are guaranteed to redirect your attention from the most telling details 😉. Come for the engrossing, cleverly built alternate reality, suspended between coziness and horror/despair, and the mystery behind it; stay for the engaging characters searching for their place in life, and battling trauma and personal demons (not all of them metaphorical) as much as they do the monsters and darkness in their portal universe. [...]

Daniel Church: "The Ravening" (ARC Review)

Title: The Ravening [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Daniel Church [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2024
Age: 18+
Stars: 4/5
Pros: Intriguing premise. Badass and resourceful heroine. Tight action. Fascinating dreamworld.
Cons: The supernatural aspect is a lot less prominent than one would expect, until late in the story. The main character can be abrasive and goes from mistrust to love in a jiffy. The "historical" interpolations are a bit tedious and not really necessary. There's a questionable sex scene, and a string of repetitions ("babe", "girl" "stupid cow") that get old fast.
WARNING! Blood, gore, violence, murder, dismemberment, near-drowning, fire. Familial trauma, kidnapping, imprisonment, forced pregnancy, attempted suicide, homophobia, bullying, copious swearing. Contains a detailed F/F sex scene.
Will appeal to: Those who enjoy a mixture of thriller and supernatural with plenty of action. Those who can get behind a tough female character without a maternal bone in her body.

Blurb: Jenna's life has always been a fight. From the traumatic and mysterious loss of her mother on a dark woodland road when she was fifteen, to the abusive and controlling boyfriend she's recently escaped, she has learned that trust hurts you in the end. Now Jenna's found what she hopes is happiness with her new girlfriend, Holly. But the world is full of darkness - some of it ancient, some of it closer to home... Evil, and those who serve it, will not let Jenna go. (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on Edelweiss. Thanks to Watkins Publishing LTD/Angry Robot for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

MAGICAL CRESCENDO

I'll be honest: I expected The Ravening to be less of an action-y thriller and more of a "classic" supernatural haunting. But though I would have liked to spend more time in the dreamworld Church created because it was super-cool (and because that's how I roll 😉), I appreciated how he slowly introduced more and more supernatural cues into a seemingly average (well, in a manner of speaking) abduction-and-escape story, only to finally give the fantastical elements center stage and reveal the mythological foundations of his narrative (I'm not going to be more specific in order to avoid spoilers, but basically, Church put a wild and creative spin on a well-known classical myth). It's a testament to the author's ability to weave a tale that never lets up - and to come up with a flawed, yet relatable and strong heroine - if I was able to enjoy a story employing one of my less favourite narrative devices (the aforementioned abduction-and-escape), so chances are that those of you who aren't fond of this kind of stories will be entertained enough to read on, and get to the supernatural bits in all their glory 🙂. [...]

B.C. Johnson: "Deadgirl: Gravedust" (ARC Review)

Title: Deadgirl: Gravedust [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Deadgirl (5th of 5 books, but there's also a novella about a side character that is chronologically book 2.5 in the series - though best read after book 3 if you want to avoid a spoiler about its ending)
Author: B.C. Johnson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Imaginative plot. Excellent pacing. Emotional kaleidoscope. Flawed yet lovable characters who manage to feel realistic in the middle of mayhem.
Cons: Darker than the previous installments. A certain twist brings some issues with it.
WARNING! Horror, gore and heartbreak (both for the characters and the readers). Guns, knifes/swords, rats, fires/burns, vampirism (on people and animals, the latter off-page), eye and leg injury, near-drowning, suicide (off-page). Lots of language.
Will appeal to: Those who love peculiar undead protagonists. Those who enjoy a mix of cinematic action and strong feelings. Those who like brave, resourceful teens who don't pose as heroes, but are set on saving the world whatever the price (and manage to love a lot in the process).

Blurb: For Lucy and her friends, the end is here. The deals they've made have fallen apart, and their enemies prepare a final attack on everything Team Deadgirl holds dear. An army of monsters out of a nightmare arrives on their doorstep, but Lucy, Morgan, Zack, and Daphne are scattered, unprepared, and alone. When an old villain turns out not to be as dead as they appeared - which is sort of Lucy's thing - the team again faces the one girl they were never able to defeat. And she isn't just seeking revenge against Lucy. She's after something far worse. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. And the author being B.C. Johnson, you all know I've been campaigning for his first Deadgirl book with all my might since 2013, when I read the original version. Also, B.C. Johnson and me have stayed in touch, if sporadically, for the whole time. I'm not what you would call a friend of his though, only a fan of his work. And an unbiased one. As usual, this review is the love child of my penchant for quirky, uniquely worded books and B.C. Johnson's ability to deliver them.

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

How do you review the last book in a saga you've been invested in for almost twelve years? How do you find the words to say goodbye to a world and a cast that you aren't, will never be ready to let go, and yet (you agree, you see the point) went out with a spectacular, incredibly satisfying bang? First thing first - Deadgirl: Gravedust is what every series ending should be: high-octane, twist-serving, and emotionally destroying, but in a good way. (Wait, is there a good way? You bet there is). In this last installment, Johnson puts every idea, mood, plot thread, side character (alive and dead) that have ever been incorporated into the story to fruition, which is an impressive feat in itself, and shows how he's been playing the long game all along, though the first Deadgirl was just a standalone novel with sequel(s) potential when it was published (well, the author had ideas for those sequels, but I don't know how structured at the time - what I know is, he changed a bunch of them during his writing journey. And yet...). Gravedust is a colossal showdown (not only because it could be a legit superhero blockbuster, only with teens), and it's a chorus line's last bow after a terrific performance, because all of this has been as much about Lucy - the girl who stubbornly refused to die on her first date - as it has been about all her friends and family and allies, in more ways than one. Whether a character in this book is alive or dead, just bruised or badly injured in the end - and regardless of their lives still being a work in progress, because of course they are, and clear-cut endings are a lie - we get closure about them, or as much closure as we can. And it's funny, and it's sad, and it's beautiful. [...]

Seanan McGuire: "Tidal Creatures" (ARC Review)

Title: Tidal Creatures [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Alchemical Journeys (3rd of 5 books)
Author: Seanan McGuire [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Supernatural
Year: 2024
Age: 16+ (the book is geared towards adults, but can be read by mature teens)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Fascinating concept. Rich mythology. Characters who transcend the page.
Cons: Complex. On the other hand, the murder-mystery part isn't hard to figure out, once you have the necessary information.
WARNING! Some gruesome deaths/imagery (people melting included).
Will appeal to: Those who loved Book 1 in the series and were less keen on Book 2. Those who need more Roger and Dodger. Those who enjoy a creative, exciting twist on gods incarnate and the heart of creation. 

Blurb: All across the world, people look up at the moon and dream of gods. Gods of knowledge and wisdom, gods of tides and longevity. Over time, some of these moon gods incarnated into the human world alongside the other manifest natural concepts. Their job is to cross the sky above the Impossible City - the heart of all creation - to keep it connected to reality. And someone is killing them. There are so many of them that it's easy for a few disappearances to slip through the cracks. But they aren't limitless. In the name of the moon, the lunar divinities must uncover the roots of the plot and thwart the true goal of those behind these attacks - control of the Impossible City itself. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Tor/Forge for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

NEW HEIGHTS

Let's get it out of the way: if you adored Middlegame but felt that Seasonal Fears was a bit of a letdown, you only need to read Tidal Creatures to fall in love with the series all over again. And no, not only because this time Roger and Dodger play a huge part in it (though it does help 😉 😍). For one, the amount of exposition is just right - there's a lot to take in, that's for sure, and some of the concepts are tackled more than once, but you never feel like you're hammered over the head with them when it happens. Every time the god-incarnate situation, the alchemical procedures or the Impossible City (a.k.a. the center of creation) are discussed, the reader is given a new piece of information, or sees a familiar event from a new angle (or from a new character's eyes), so that in the end everything is an essential tassel to the book's mosaic, the same way as the Lunar gods need to come together to become the Moon that shines over the City itself. But this is just one of the reasons why this book restored my faith in the series... [...]

Kelly Link: "The Book of Love" (ARC Review)

Title: The Book of Love [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: None
Author: Kelly Link [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife, Supernatural, Thriller/Mystery
Year: 2024
Age: 16+ (the protagonists are 18 and 17, and on the whole it's more of a NA book than a YA one...The dealbreaker here are the pretty graphic sex scenes, definitely more appropriate for an older audience, but I'm hesitant to call this an "adult" book because of the characters' age)
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Imaginative, inclusive, delightfully quirky. Populated by flawed, yet endearing characters who feel very real. Written in an apparently effortless, yet magical (and sometimes funny) prose.
Cons: Long (though never boring) - if you prefer your books to be on the shorter side. Contains brief but frequent bouts of (graphic) sex - if you'd rather read clean books.
WARNING! Some horror/gore. Death of a parent. Grief. Racism. Sexual content.
Will appeal to: Those who like a dark yet magical, cheeky yet tender small-town fantasy with coming-of-age themes.

Blurb: Laura, Daniel and Mo disappeared without trace a year ago. They have long been presumed dead. Which they were. But now they are not. And it is up to the resurrected teenagers to discover what happened to them. Revived by Mr Anabin - the man they knew as their high school music teacher - they are offered a chance to return to the mortal realm. But first they must solve the mystery of their death and learn to use the magic they now possess. And only two of them may stay. What they do not realise is their return has upset a delicate balance that has held - just - for centuries. (Amazon)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Head of Zeus for providing a temporary ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

I CONTAIN MULTITUDES

Every book whose synopsis promises dead/undead protagonists is guaranteed to have my attention - though I don't necessarily read all of them. But The Book of Love turned out to be much more than the story of three deceased teens who come back to life. For one, it encompasses a number of genres - building on its afterlife premise, it soon turns into a mystery, a supernatural fantasy with a magical-realism feel, and a strong coming-of-age narrative, while even incorporating a tongue-in-cheek, yet fond homage to romance novels. It's both dreamy and brutal, tender and acerbic, with messy characters you can't help but love and who feel like flesh and blood even when they're...something else. It's a love letter to music and writing. It touches upon/explores all kinds to familial bonds/relationships, even the strained ones (divorced/absent parents, sibling rivalries, your friends' friends whom you don't necessarily like). It's got queer and POC rep done right (also, "trans women are women" 👍), and it addresses racism in different forms (I particularly appreciated the discourse about publishing as a Black author in the typically white romance panorama. The book is set in 2014, but I'm afraid part of that still stands). At the end of the day, if this novel does incorporate a few familiar tropes (some of them slightly Buffy-adjacent), it spins them into an imaginative story that's much bigger than the sum of its parts. [...]

B.C. Johnson: "Deadgirl: Daybreak" (ARC Review)

Title: Deadgirl: Daybreak [on Amazon | on Goodreads]
Series: Deadgirl (4th of 5 books, but there's also a novella about a side character that is chronologically book 2.5 in the series - though best read after book 3 if you want to avoid a spoiler about its ending)
Author: B.C. Johnson [Site | Goodreads]
Genres: Afterlife, Supernatural, Urban Fantasy, Contemporary
Year: 2024
Age: 14+
Stars: 5/5
Pros: Imaginative plot. Unique, mind-blowing afterlife concept/visuals. Flawed yet lovable characters who manage to feel realistic in the middle of mayhem.
Cons: Very dark in places (though tempered with funny dialogue/inner monologue). More of a slow-burn than the previous installments. Features some questionable characters' choices.
WARNING! Horror, gore and heartbreak (both for the characters and the readers). Underage drinking. A couple of nudity/underage sex scenes (though not graphic/detailed, mostly happening offscreen). An instance of infidelity. An animal sacrifice. Lots of language.
Will appeal to: Those who love afterlife scenarios. Those who enjoy a mix of laughter and tears, action and strong feelings. Those who like brave, resourceful teens who don't pose as heroes.

Blurb: The final year of high school approaches, and Lucy is ready to break. Too many of her friends have died. Too many monsters have taken their bite. And now Lucy must face her greatest challenge of all: the end of everything she knows. With high school disappearing and the world before her, Lucy must make her choice on what's to come. But with the rise of an old enemy who's been stalking her for three years - and a rapidly dwindling supply of allies - can Lucy even make it to graduation? And more importantly, does she want to? (Amazon excerpt)

Review: First off...DISCLAIMER: I received this novel from the author in exchange for an honest review. And the author being B.C. Johnson, you all know I've been campaigning for his first Deadgirl book with all my might since 2013, when I read the original version. Also, B.C. Johnson and me have stayed in touch, if sporadically, for the whole time. I'm not what you would call a friend of his though, only a fan of his work. And an unbiased one. As usual, this review is the love child of my penchant for quirky, uniquely worded books and B.C. Johnson's ability to deliver them.

THE LONG GAME

Seven years have passed since the last Deadgirl installment (or six, if you count the Daphne novella in 2018...not like one year makes a huge difference), but B.C. Johnson hasn't lost his touch. It's funny, because Daybreak is a bit of a slow burn compared to the other books in the series, especially since the first 100 pages include lots of domestic scenes (if a funeral can be considered "domestic", but you know what I mean) and the main plot seems to revolve around the protagonists' alliance with a certain faction, which isn't my favourite thing to read about. But all this turns out to be a necessary premise to the most exciting (and heartbreaking...and heartwarming - usually, with Johnson, the two go hand in hand) part of the story. Which is why, upon turning the last page, I went back and reread the whole thing, and enjoyed the hell out of it. It doesn't hurt that the afterlife where Lucy has been spending lots of her time since becoming a (still very human) phantom is everything I - the afterlife junk - crave for in a story and more. The Grey is imaginative, visually stunning, almost videogame-like at times, teeming with danger yet interspersed with pockets of love (literally) and beauty. Plus, hands down home to the best scenes in the book - and the most poignant. [...]